The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has directed X, owned by Elon Musk, to immediately remove all obscene and sexually explicit content from its platform, with specific emphasis on material generated through its AI chatbot Grok.

According to a report by The Hindu, MeitY has given X Corp’s Chief Compliance Officer a strict deadline of 72 hours to submit a detailed action-taken report. The response must be filed by Monday, January 5, 2026. The ministry warned that failure to comply would invite serious legal consequences under Indian law.

In a formal notice signed by Ajit Kumar, Joint Secretary for Cyber Laws, MeitY stated that non-compliance would be viewed gravely. The letter cautioned that strict legal action could be initiated against the platform, its responsible officers, and even users found violating the law—without any further notice.

The directive follows repeated complaints received by the ministry, including representations from Members of Parliament, regarding content on X that allegedly violates decency and obscenity provisions under the Information Technology Act, 2000. MeitY has specifically flagged the misuse of Grok AI in creating fake accounts that generate and circulate derogatory or sexually explicit images of women.

According to the ministry, these include both manipulated images of real women created without consent and entirely fabricated visuals produced through “synthetic outputs.” MeitY described this as a “serious failure of platform-level safeguards,” stating that such practices directly violate applicable laws and undermine user safety.

The government further warned that the unchecked spread of such AI-generated content risks normalising sexual harassment and exploitation in digital spaces, posing broader societal and legal concerns.

As part of the directive, X has been ordered to carry out a comprehensive technical, procedural, and governance-level review of Grok AI. This includes a detailed assessment of how the chatbot processes prompts, generates responses using large language models, handles image generation, and applies safety guardrails. The ministry has made it clear that X must ensure Grok is incapable of generating, promoting, or facilitating any form of nudity or sexually explicit material.

The notice marks one of the strongest regulatory interventions by the Indian government against AI-generated content on global social media platforms, underscoring growing scrutiny around artificial intelligence, accountability, and digital safety.